newbie's 2940U problems

[Andrew Sharp]

I'm new to this list -- hope I don't bore anyone.

I've been trying to get a newer version of the linux kernel to work on
my system, but so far have been stopped by problems with the scsi
driver.

adaptec 2940U PCI card, bios v. 1.23, internal and external drives.

works great with linux2.0.27 kernel and NT4.0SP3.  even with the card in
"host adapter termination: auto" mode.

doesn't work with 2.0.33 and, apparently, beyond.  i haven't tried any
kernels between 2.0.27 and 2.0.33.  2.0.36 definitely doesn't work.

symptoms: it can't get the cabling right to save it's life.  no matter
what I do (host adapter termination {auto,disabled}, etc.), it won't see
both the int and ext cables.  it goes down hill from there, because I
have drives both inside and out.  after spending a great deal of time
sextuple-checking cabling and termination issues, i tried to move all
the drives to external; of course i don't have that many cases, but i
thought I would install and then fix the problem, but that didn't work
either.  the driver eventually locks up the kernel anyway during the
installation.  this is 2.0.33

in 2.0.36, it won't make it past the 'downloading sequencer code' line
that comes out during boot time.  it freezes with the cursor blinking on
the next line.  i think it said 416 instructions downloaded or something
like that.

like i said, works great all day long with the 2.0.27 driver, but that
kernel has other bugs that i need to get past, namely ide and vfat file
system drivers that eventually pack up the kernel during moderate to
heavy use.

thanks for any help or advice,

a

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